[FM 14] A European Journey

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Greetings, FMCUers.

This evening I found myself thinking about the fact that, in my relatively short Football Manager career, I've barely scratched the surface of the world the game provides. I've spent the overwhelming majority of my time managing in England. Almost all the rest of my saves have taken place elsewhere in the British Isles. It's time to try something different.

I'm going to load up a group of European leagues I've never explored, begin without a job, and see where I end up. The countries shaded in blue are the ones I've chosen.

A few notes about the world in which the story will play out:

• I'm using FM 14. I've bought every version since FM 12 and I've enjoyed them all. 14 is my favorite, however. For some reason, I seem to have better success tactically on 14 than on the other versions. I have a veteran laptop, and it handles a game with several big leagues much more easily with 14 than with the newer editions.
  
• My manager character is German, with Belgian as his second nationality. He can, therefore, speak German, Dutch, and French, which will serve him well in the countries he might end up...with the exception of Italy.
  
• I've made my manager a former professional footballer. I realize many of you start with no badges and Sunday league experience, and I've done that before...but this time, I'm going to give my alter ego a background that's more similar to that of the men he'll likely be managing against.
  

I am FAR from a Football Manager expert. I don't expect to boss one league after another, and I'm probably much more likely to get sacked than I am to lead a club to European glory. Still, I can dream, and part of the fun is seeing how many of those dreams come true.

So, without further ado, I'll begin my journey. Wish me luck, and I hope some of you will follow along.

[tyler16]

I'll be following along. Good luck.

PS - I'm still on FM14 too.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I'll be following along. Good luck.

PS - I'm still on FM14 too.

Thanks, tyler16. I have no problems with either FM15 or FM16, and I've had fun saves with both of them. There's something about FM14 that clicks with me, however. Thanks for the comment!

23 December 2013

I landed my first job just in time for Christmas. Where will I be spending the holiday? Let's find out.

There was a job open in the German Third Division at the beginning: FC Saarbrücken. They offered me an interview, but I turned it down. Taking over a club on the first day of the season seemed to me to go against the spirit of this adventure.

As the summer turned to autumn, I began to see jobs opening up, and some of them appealed to me. I expressed interest in them, but nothing much happened, other than snarky news articles questioning my sincerity because I seemed too eager to land a job somewhere.

Now it was time to see what happened if I made my interest even clearer.

In early December, FC Preußen Münster sacked their manager after he "led" them to second bottom in Germany's Third Division. Except for the fact the club was drowning in debt, I liked the looks of it, so I applied for the job. The board granted me an interview, but decided to go with a manager who's old enough to be my alter ego's father (I made myself ten years younger in the game, so my alter ego was about to turn 30).

FC Winterthur was battling relegation from the Swiss Challenge League, and their job came open the next week. I didn't get an interview this time, because they filled the job in 24 hours.

The same day, I learned that Virtus Entella, a club in Italy's Serie C1/A, decided to part company with manager Alessandro Franco. This surprised me, since the club were sixth, in a league where the champion earns automatic promotion and the next eight teams enter a playoff. Their board wanted the team to make the playoff places, so it seemed to me that Franco was doing his job.

I took a look at the situation and decided to apply for the job. I was asked to come in for an interview, and today I heard back from the board chairman...

So, here I am, the new manager of Virtus Entella!

The Biancazzurri have a cool badge, don't they?

Now that I'm managing the club, I see why Alessandro Franco might have gotten the sack. The club's wage bill is over €52,000, and the finances are a mess. The chairman didn't mention anything about fixing the finances in my interview; he simply asked if the team's wage and transfer budgets were adequate, and I said they were fine. In retrospect, that might have been a mistake on my part. I'm going to have to see if I can set things straight.

And, of course, the one country in my "world" where I can't speak the language is Italy. It will be interesting to see how quickly I pick up Italian.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

If you're looking for cutting-edge tactical sophistication, you've come to the wrong thread. I enjoy playing with a bog standard 4-4-2. I can envision what I want my players to do, and I enjoy defending with two solid banks of four. The board want me to play defensive football--a style I enjoy myself--and this team's personnel lend itself well to this tactic.

I'm not as obstinately attached to 4-4-2 as Mike Bassett, but you probably won't see me deviate from it too much. I might experiment with some different roles from time to time, and I'll replace a striker with a defensive midfielder when I'm protecting a lead.

Here's the squad I'm inheriting. My assistant manager, Damiano Giordano, is so-so at evaluating talent (10 for Judging Player Ability, 12 for Judging Player Potential), so his star ratings will probably be so-so, too.



Yep, we've got one goalkeeper in the senior team. He's good, but there's nobody behind him except a raw young lad or two.



Yes, I have Pelé in my team! How cool is that? I like both Riso and Brunelli a lot. Quintana is here on a year-long loan from Inter Milan. Bucci is the vice-captain, but he'll be competing for playing time with Gobbo once the latter is back from an Achilles tendon injury in about three weeks. Sixteen-year-old Gianpetro Luciani has the potential to be a very good center back one day.



Santarelli is the star man, the more creative of my central midfield pair. Veteran Villegas, versatile Caputi, and captain Garreffa round out the starting midfield. I'll use Caputi on the left side, even though he's just as well-suited to the middle of the park. The best youngsters here are Filipo Orsini and Francesco Spatafora, both 16-year-old central midfielders with lots of pace.



I've grouped the attacking midfielders and the strikers together here. I probably won't have an AML/AMC/AMR on the field very often, unless my standard 4-4-2 doesn't work well.

Ssewankambo, a ChievoVerona loanee, is a beast. I'm amazed he's only scored three goals in 12 appearances. He is a full Gambia international. He can fill either role I ask my strikers to perform (DLF or AF). Crotti is the team's top scorer with six goals. I like Quaranta, who has the attributes I look for in a Deep Lying Forward. I'd like to get Cozza some playing time, too. The team's best young player is Diego Fiorini, 17, a promising young striker.

If you don't recognize a single one of these names, don't be surprised. They're all "fake." I find myself connecting with a save better if I can see the players' faces, rather than black silhouettes of a dude's head. Besides, unless you follow the third tier of Italian football, you wouldn't recognize them anyway.

Virtus Entella have a Director of Football, Stefano Gatti. I'm giving Stefano the power to find players and negotiate contracts, subject to my approval.

I did make one executive decision concerning the squad, however. There were FORTY-FOUR players in the Under 19 team when I arrived!! No wonder the wage bill was bloated! I released 24 lads, all of whom my assistant rated as one-star prospects or worse. I also offered to terminate the contracts of three reserve players, all rubbish. It cost a little over €150,000 to do this, but I trimmed nearly €6000 from the weekly wage bill.

My predecessor arranged the sale of a player for €74,000, which will take effect when the transfer window opens in January. That will earn back half of what I spent getting rid of the surplus teenagers.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

The Serie C1/A season lasts 30 games, so I'm taking over just past the halfway mark of the season.

Here's a little more about the Biancazzurri and the city they call home.



I like the look of the team's kit.

Training Facilities: Below Average

Youth Facilities: Adequate

Junior Coaching: Adequate

Youth Recruitment: Fairly Basic



I'm liking the grounds, too. That's the Entella River flowing beside the stadium; now I know where the club's name comes from.



Chiavari has a population of about 28,000, and as you can see, it's located right on the coast of the Ligurian Sea.



Yes, please.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

January 2014

​



It could have been better, but I'll take it.

Quaranta has flourished as my Deep Lying Forward. Caputi's goals were both gorgeous; he lashed a side volley past a hapless Cremonese 'keeper and drilled home a header to equalize against San Marino after Stefano Pozzobon allowed a frightful own goal. Stefano successfully held onto a well-struck shot, but then he inexplicably made a 360-degree pirouette and seemed to fling the ball up into the bottom of the crossbar and into his own goal.



We've moved up a spot and, with ten matches remaining, we're definitely in the running for a playoff spot.

Transfers

The winter transfer period ended on 31 January, and I asserted my authority to bring in a backup goalkeeper. I wanted to find one who was (1) talented enough to acquit himself well in the senior team if needed and (2) young enough to improve. I was very happy to find this young man, a free agent who was looking for a club.



I'd prefer to see more determination in my goalkeepers, but he'll do, especially at a reasonable wage. What's more, Timothée is French, so I can talk to him.



The DoF must want us to mount a serious title challenge this season. He arranged loan deals for two players which will cost us a total of €2250/week.



I was just fine with bringing Stazi in. He's comfortable at left and right back, and look at that nice, symmetrical attribute polygon!



This one is harder to understand. Sure, Rota is a nice player, but we're paying 100 percent of his wages for the rest of the season. Plus, his best position is one I don't customarily use. I can play him at M®, but that means putting the captain, Luca Garreffa, on the bench, and Luca's play certainly doesn't warrant that. I might start the team training a formation that uses advanced wide men so I can make use of my new toy.

Just like that, we're back over our wage budget. I hope our play over the rest of the season makes the expenditures worthwhile...

[tyler16]

Really love your writing style. Great stuff so far.

Not only are we both playing FM14, we're in the same divisions too! Be easy on San Marino Calcio for me.

I'm just about to get my first season underway and have yet to familiarize myself with the league rules. Eight playoff spots? I guess the Italian third tier offers hope for all!

Keep it up.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Really love your writing style. Great stuff so far.

Not only are we both playing FM14, we're in the same divisions too! Be easy on San Marino Calcio for me.

I'm just about to get my first season underway and have yet to familiarize myself with the league rules. Eight playoff spots? I guess the Italian third tier offers hope for all!

Keep it up.

When I saw we were playing San Marino Calcio, I thought about your thread. I think my 'keeper, Pozzobon, must be a fan of your story, too. I can't otherwise explain that ridiculous own goal.

In my game, San Marino Calcio are currently 13th of 16 teams, but they're still only two points out of the playoff places. Eleven points separate the top 13 teams. Talk about a competitive league! All the clichés about every match counting, etc., definitely apply in Serie C/1a.

The promotion and relegation rules in Italy are very complicated. Take a look at the rules for Serie B, and you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for your comment about my writing style. I'm still trying to refine my format, and I'm glad you think it's enjoyable.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

February 2014





How 'bout that? Granted, we're top because Vicenza is facing that four-point deduction, but rules are rules. Given the history of the Italian leagues, I'd presume the penalties the three clubs face were given for match fixing, but I'm not sure. At any rate, we're top of the table, and it feels good!



We're riding a streak of ten matches without a loss, three of which came under my predecessor's watch.

My decision to sign a backup goalkeeper turned out to be a fortuitous one. Stefano Pozzobon injured his elbow late in the Pro Vercelli match, and for the next two games, Timothée Gaborit had a more important role in the team than speaking French with me. The youngster did fine, although we might have made do with a traffic cone between the posts against Como, such was the potency of our offense.

It was great to see Kabba Ssewankambo finally find the net, and when he did, he did it twice. I just learned Kabba will be called up to the Gambia squad for a friendly match with Central African Republic next month.

I wasn't sure how much I liked our DoF bringing in Emanuele Rota when it happened. I am revising my opinion now. He's been ace for us, except for a worrisome tendency to become very nervous during matches. I've been using him as a striker,which means I've been rotating him with Ssewankambo and Angelo Quaranta, whose magical goal-scoring touch seems to have left him after he netted in his fourth straight match on the 2nd.



And look at this! It's been three months, and I'm already speaking some Italian. Apparently my alter ego has a gift for languages.

[Northwood_dk]

Good luck in the lower Italian league. It's a tough but fun place to play.

I will follow your progress with this.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Good luck in the lower Italian league. It's a tough but fun place to play.

I will follow your progress with this.

Thanks very much, Northwood_dk. I created this save because I wanted to explore some new leagues, and so far I'm enjoying my Italian adventure. I hope you enjoy it, too.

March 2014



March wasn't a terribly busy month at Virtus Entella. The youth intake was definitely the highlight of the month.



Four matches remain in the programme, and I feel confident we'll meet our board's expectation of a place in the playoffs. I discovered the media predicted us to finish second, so right now, we're making them look pretty smart.



We played only twice in March, and we're currently in the middle of a three-week break in the schedule.

Of the three goals credited to our side in March, two were put in by our opponents. How often do you see something like that?

I realize I forgot to mention anything about the events of the AlbinoLeffe match on 23 February. (I need to make better notes.) It was a rather nasty one, and both teams played with ten men most of the time. Our right back, Salvio Brunelli, drew a straight red card for a vicious foul on 11 minutes. Their man advantage lasted 12 minutes, before Antonio Meda received his second yellow. Brunelli is currently serving a three-game ban for his conduct, and he accepted the stern warning I gave him like a man.

We tossed away two points on the 16th, when we gave away a penalty in stoppage time and allowed Lumezzane to draw level. The call was terrible, but I bit my tongue and didn't say anything in my presser. I'm still too new a manager to challenge the FA like that.

On the other hand, that means we didn't concede a goal from open play all month.

Youth Intake Day!



I'm delighted with the quality of this group of young players. They got a beating from our Under 19s in their evaluation match, losing 4-0, but everyone in my staff is excited about the potential they see here. So am I.



Pocket-sized Bressan has good mental attributes and bags of pace. He's projected to make a good Serie B midfielder one day.



Moretti's ceiling is said to be even higher--he has Serie A potential, according to the consensus in our back room. It's a bit of a shame he and Bressan are both left midfielders. I might have to train one of them to play somewhere else.



I'm a big fan of this lad. Look at those mental attributes, and he's not yet 16. Fantini is small for a center half, but he won't back down from any challenge.



Frulli is big and he's got some pace. Another player whom our staff thinks is good enough to play in Serie B.

I've signed ten of these boys to youth contracts. I couldn't resist the opportunity to have a lad named Francesco Di Francesco in my team. At the end of the season, I'll cull a few of the existing youth from the team.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

April 2014





April saw us experience a slight dip in form, enough to cost us the top spot in the table. However, we're still right there, with one match remaining.



The draw at home to Carrarese allowed Vicenza to move ahead of us, but there was still some good news after the match.



One piece of business completed.

We fell to third after the Pavia match. We never looked like winning, and the defeat ended our unbeaten streak at 13.

Next, we welcomed Venezia to the Comunale. The Lagunari were second top, one spot ahead of us, and they thrashed us, 0-3 at their grounds on 1 December. In fact, that was the last blemish on the Biancazzurri's record before our magical run began.

We bounced back with style via a brace from the captain, Luca Garreffa. Neither of his goals were things of beauty, but they both counted.

So, here we are, entering our final match of the season with a chance to lift the trophy. Guess who we're playing?

Vicenza.

[tyler16]

Madness how close the league is! Have to imagine the two teams that are promoted will be heavy favorites to come back down next season as there's not a huge gap in the pack.

Best of luck against Vicenza, should be quite the occasion.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Madness how close the league is! Have to imagine the two teams that are promoted will be heavy favorites to come back down next season as there's not a huge gap in the pack.

Best of luck against Vicenza, should be quite the occasion.

Thanks, tyler16. It's a scriptwriter's dream--the top two teams in the league facing each other in the last match of the season. We have to win the match to win the league. Vicenza, of course, can clinch the title with a draw. We are playing at home, so I'm expecting them to sit back and protect their goal at all costs.

You're right about how tightly bunched this league has been! Carrarese haven't clinched the last playoff berth; there's apparently a chance for Lumezzane to pip them if they win and Carrarese lose.

There's a part of me that won't be too upset if we don't go up for 2014/15. I wouldn't mind having another year to let some players develop and to try to improve the club's financial situation before taking on the challenge of Serie B.

Thanks for following!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

May 2014





All Vicenza needed to win Serie C1/A was a draw, so that's what they played for. That's exactly what they got, as I couldn't manage to break down their formidable defensive presence. Nevertheless, we completed the season in second place, which was exactly where we were predicted to finish.

Lumezzane snagged the final playoff place, so they traveled to the Comunale for the Quarter Final. Emanuele Rota hit a brace, and we dispatched the eighth-place club with relative ease.

Next up was Savona, for a two-legged Semi Final. With the smallest wage bill in the league, Savona deserves credit for doing a lot with a little. At their grounds on the 18th, they were clearly the better side. I was happy to see us get that away goal, even if their goalkeeper batted it into his own net. We were much better in the home tie, controlling possession and creating six clear cut chances. Pelé scored a picture-perfect goal, blasting in a Richard Quintana corner to put us through to the Final.

We'll face Pro Vercelli, who defeated Venezia 3-1 on aggregate.

Stefano Gatti, our DoF, has been negotiating contracts for 2014/15 with quite a few of our players. With very few exceptions, he's persuading them to sign for less money than they're making this season (!!), so our wage bill is slowly creeping down.

[ManUtd1]

Great start, GB! Very inspiring, as I'm considering possible saves.

Good luck against Pro Vercelli!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Great start, GB! Very inspiring, as I'm considering possible saves.

Good luck against Pro Vercelli!

Thanks very much, ManUtd1. The Biancazzurri finished the season with 13 wins, 11 draws, and 6 losses. They had taken 26 points from 17 matches before I arrived. We won six, drew six, and lost one in the league since then, which gave us 24 points from 13 games under my leadership. I'm pleased with the way we've played.

I hope you come up with an idea you'll like. If you do, I'll be following.

And thanks for the good wishes for the Final. Pro Vercelli are a big club for our level, with a higher wage bill, so it won't be easy, that's for sure.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

June 2014





We did it!!

There were 4,215 people packed into the Silvio Paoli grounds in Vercelli for the first leg of the Final.

The Bianche cassacche are a good side, with players from Jordan, Macedonia, and Finland on their roster. They finished the season with 50 points, just like we did.

I was surprised by how defensively they played at home. Early in the second half, Angelo Quaranta hit a pretty one-time pass to Richard Quintana, lurking just outside the area. The Argentine wide man lashed it in for the game's only goal. We outshot Vercelli 15-4, and after scoring that away goal, I felt good about our chances.

I wish I could say the people of Chiavari packed the Comunale, too, but "only" a little more than 3,000 came out to the match. It's a shame, because the ones who stayed home missed a cracking good match.

We earned a corner on 18 minutes, and Quintana, our set-piece specialist, hit a nice ball to the near post that center back Lorenzo Bucci put on goal. Ricardo Valtolina saved, but the rebound fell at Bucci's feet, and he knocked in the rebound.

Five minutes later, Quaranta spotted an unmarked Luca Garreffa making a run into the right side of the area. His pass hit Luca in stride, and the captain did the rest. We were up 2-0, 3-0 on aggregate, and finally I felt like I could relax a bit.

Vercelli pulled one back, but that was it.



And, just like that, we're going up to Serie B for 2014/15.



That fan is probably my dad. My alter ego is 30, so my son hasn't been born yet.



Look at how tight the top of the table was! There were weekends late in the season when almost every match on the programme had implications for the playoff. I don't remember ever being part of a late-season battle like this.

Now, it's off to Serie B. Wish us luck. We'll need lots and lots of it.

[ManUtd1]

Nicely done, GB!!!

Good of your dad to make the trip over for the final...

[tyler16]

Interested to see how you cope with such a jump in quality now. Should be quite the dogfight to stay up.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Nicely done, GB!!!

Good of your dad to make the trip over for the final...

Thanks, ManUtd1. You never know when you'll make another final, so you better enjoy it while you can, right?

Interested to see how you cope with such a jump in quality now. Should be quite the dogfight to stay up.

Thanks, tyler16. We're in for a real scrap next season. The bottom three teams are relegated from Serie B. There's possibly a bigger gap in quality between us and Vicenza than the table would indicate; they were actually six points better on the pitch and overcame a four-point deduction to win the league. We'll definitely be one of the minnows.

Thanks for the comments!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Offseason 2014/15

Our promotion to Serie B made this an especially busy off-season.



This is a pretty funky Best Eleven. Gianluca Crotti was our third striker, not a left midfielder. I didn't play him as much as my predecessor did, because I preferred the Ssewankambo-Quaranta partnership. Richard Quintana was the first choice left winger; he almost never played defense. Once Lilio Stazi arrived in January, he put left back on lock and played very well.

Luca Garreffa was the Supporters' Player of the Year, and he earned it. He had eight assists in addition to those five goals, and captained the club. Alan Caputi wouldn't have been a bad choice, either. He was named to the Serie C1/A Team of the Month four times.



Nice going, lads. I tried to get Quintana to extend his loan for another season, but he wasn't willing to return. He would have come in handy as we make the step up to Serie B.

Veteran Enrique Villegas won't be back, either. He's on his way back to his native Argentina, where Lañus will pay him €5750/week. There was no way we were going to pay that much for a 36-year-old player who was on the fringes of the first team.

The good news: Our other three loanees--Kabba Ssewankambo, Lilio Stazi, and Emanuele Rota--are all going to spend the 2014/15 season with us, too. Last year, we paid 100 percent of their wages. This season, we'll be paying NOTHING for Kabba and Emanuele, and only 50% of Lilio's salary. I took advantage of the fact that our Director of Football, Stefano Gatti, left the club on 30 June. Before I hired a new one, I took care of the arrangements for the abovementioned trio.



I have a new right hand man, too. Andrea Tomasoni is as good as Damiano Giordano, and at less than half the salary. Plus, he has a Professional personality, which is something I really like to see.



The wage budget is unchanged from last season, and the board has put a little more money in the transfer kitty. It's probably a lot less than some of the bigger Serie B clubs have, but it'll have to do.



Oh, heck yes! We had been leaking money like a sieve, so this will help a LOT.



And so will this.

[ManUtd1]

Got to love the sponsorship money rolling in -- always good to see.

Best of luck in the early season!

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Preseason 2014/15, Part One



We returned to training camp on 5 July and, almost immediately, things began to change around the Comunale.

We got a new Director of Football, Stefano Oliveri. He wasted little time getting right to work.



Oh, dear. Pozzobon was valued at €450K, and he'd just extended his contract with us through 2016 at €2100/week. Roma is paying him €6500/week to serve as their backup 'keeper. Selling Stefano will take a big chunk out of the club's debt, so it makes a lot of sense from a business standpoint. However, it left us with a big gap between the posts. Timothée Gaborit is a decent young 'keeper, but he's not ready to be a number one in Serie B.



Here is Pozzobon's replacement. Stefan Matt is a year younger than Stefano Pozzobon, and lacks the final "O" in his given name. That's because he's Liechtensteiner, which is really pretty cool. So are his size, athleticism, and determination. Matt is good for this level, and might be Serie A quality one day.

In the interim period before Oliveri was hired, I checked out the list of young players who were let go by their teams on 30 June. I found two central midfielders I liked a lot, both called Daniele V.



Mr Vertolomo was let go by Sampdoria. The mental side of his game could use work, but he's a hard worker and a good teammate. He'll have time to develop into a solid attacking central midfielder.



Mr Villani, a Juventus trainee, is better at AM©, but I don't use that position often. He's even faster and more creative than Vertolamo, and plays with a bit of edge. He'll also need to develop mentally, but if he does, look out.

We signed three more players, but this post is long enough already. I'll be back with the rest in a bit.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Got to love the sponsorship money rolling in -- always good to see.

Best of luck in the early season!

I wasn't expecting a windfall like that. It makes me even more hopeful we find a way to stay up in Serie B this year. As you'll soon see, we are hardly fancied, and we'll need a dose of luck to ride it out.

Preseason 2014/15, Part Two

Here are the other new faces around the Comunale this season.



Francesco Oliveri found this skillful Slovenian, and I was happy to sign him up to give a boost to our corps of strikers. Tadej can speak six languages, and I hope he can score in every one of them. Remember, Kabba Ssewankanbo isn't contracted to us, so Jelen's arrival gives us a good young forward we can count on having for two years.

Incidentally, he seems to have a problem with Kabba. Tadej believes his teammate takes himself too seriously. I've never seen that before, and I'm wondering what it will mean on the pitch.



Sure, he's 37, he doesn't speak Italian, and he's losing what pace he might once have had. Sascha Schöpf is a boss. Capped 17 times by Austria before he retired from international football, if Sascha can give us one or two good years, I'll be just fine with that. His mentals are outstanding, and he's great in the air. For €950/week, he should be a valuable rotation player. I found him when his agent recommended him to us.



Here's our newest arrival. Oliveri bought Adam Stewart from Virton for €55,000 after the club was relegated from the Belgian Second League. The native of Burgess Hill, England can play all along both flanks, and is an exceptionally athletic player who can run all day long. Adam is still somewhat raw technically, but will be around the first team.

Friendlies



I played the kids against Carpi and Cittadella, so those results aren't quite as ominous as they might look. We got ourselves in shape and stayed relatively healthy.

Italian Cup



Garreffa's late goal put us through to the Third Qualifying Round, and in doing so, we exceeded the board's expectations for this tournament. Catania are a Serie A club, so we went into the tie as big underdogs. When Salvio Brunelli was sent off for a nasty two-footed tackle, our fate was basically sealed. They scored twice while we were playing with ten men. This was Brunelli's second straight red card since I've been managing him, so I fined him a week's wages. He accepted his punishment and promised to do better.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Meet the Team: 2014/15



I accidentally had Daniele Villani on the reserves when I took this screenie. I fixed my mistake and sent Andrea Gobbo to the reserves instead.

Meet the Kids



I got a €75,000 bid for Gianluca Moretti from Padova the other day. It will take a lot more than that to prise him away.

Our Head of Youth Development is Michele Ballario. He has a Resolute personality, and that was one of the things that attracted me to the Virtus Entella job.

[deltablue]

Regarding those loans you think were a bit expensive, I always make sure I can cancel deals.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Regarding those loans you think were a bit expensive, I always make sure I can cancel deals.

Thanks for the advice, deltablue. Ssewankambo's loan was arranged by my predecessor, and Richard Quintana was on a similar deal where we paid all his wages. After I saw the deals for Rota and Stazi come through, I gave my manager the authority to finalize all signings.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

August 2014



As expected, life in Serie B is a lot different than the one we left behind. We're 17th right now, so we're out of the relegation zone.

We were actually ahead 2-1 at Modena before the home team fired in three goals in fairly rapid succession and added a fourth for good measure late in the match. Jelen's brace was a small consolation, even though he took his goals with style. We could have a good one here.

We were much better against Varese at home. We should have gotten the result away to Vicenza, too, but we conceded the equalizer on 88 minutes.

Right now, we're really porous defensively. Pelé, our best center back, has been injured, and that hasn't helped. I hope it's simply a matter of getting Pelé back and gelling as a team. Otherwise, it will be a long season.



Transfers

The transfer window closed on 1 September, and we did a bit of business on Deadline Day.



The chairman took this decision out of my hands, it seems. I hate to see Moretti go, because he's such a promising player. Still, €325,000 looks good in our bank account. I'm trying to find out what the terms of this deal are, so I can see what needs to happen for us to bring in that cool €900K.

Best wishes, Gianluca.

Our DoF has a thing for signing strikers, it seems. Perhaps it's the fact that two of our top forwards are loan players. Anyway, he located this Finnish flash and negotiated a deal with him, and after some thought, I sealed it.



Juha is a fine athlete with very good mentals. He's a full Finland international, and he's young enough to keep improving. His versatility is a real plus, too.

I got an bid of €950,000 from Livorno for Luca Santarelli. The sheer size of the offer tempted me, but Luca is our best player--and two-thirds of our players talk about how much they enjoy playing alongside Luca. Sorry, Livorno.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

September 2014





There are 22 teams in Serie B. For a while, it looked like I might have to paste on the very bottom of the table, but a turn for the better over our last three matches improved the situation quite a bit.

This season is teaching me the value of patience. Usually, when I hit a bad run of form, I try to do too much to pull the team out of its rut--changing formations, juggling the lineup, etc. I resisted the temptation to do these things (for the most part), and things got better anyway.



The Crotone match was postponed from the 6th on their request, which was fine with me. Both teams had several players away on international duty. Kabba Ssewankambo got his first goal for Gambia that week, and I'm very proud of him.

Our defensive woes continued against Siena and Crotone. We began to turn things around at home against Avellino, earning a point on a late Emanuele Rota goal.

I'm very proud of our performance at Parma, in which we fought back from two goals down to draw with a very strong side that was relegated from Serie A this season. Our improved form carried over to the Spezia match, which was our most complete match, by far. Stefan Matt kept his first clean sheet for us, and we put in three goals before halftime. Ssewankambo brought his scoring boots back with him from the Gambia team. It's good to see him finding the net again.

Hopefully our recent form isn't an illusion, and I can manage to keep the Biancazzurri up this season.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

October 2014



We played much better football this month. Crotone and Benevento have a game in hand, so we could actually move up a bit more. What's more, we widened our gap between ourselves and the relegation zone a little more. That's an important statistic for a club like us...and my job probably depends on that gap remaining in place.



I'll take seven points from four matches in this league anytime, especially against teams as strong as the ones we played in October.

Lanciano was second top when we faced them, and we gave our home fans and a TV audience a good match. The own goal wasn't a weak one; Christian Riso could very well have been given credit for it, as he and a Lanciano defender both went after an Adam Stewart corner and seemed to work together to bundle it in.

We looked very good against Ternana and L'Aquila. Sascha Schöpf and Riso established themselves as our center back pairing this month. Schöpf, especially, has a knack for putting himself in the right places, overcoming his lack of pace with intelligence and positioning.

Even the Brescia result wasn't as bad as it looks. One of the goals was the result of a horrible decision by the referee. Alan Caputi was whistled for a penalty when a Brescia guy flopped onto the floor inside the area. I voiced my displeasure in my post-match press conference, and the FA didn't reprimand me for it.

For the first time, the media listed me among the leading candidates for an open managerial job. German Third Divison club FC Hansa Rostock fired their manager. I might have been somewhat tempted by that opening--I'd like to manage in Germany one day--but Rostock are in administration. Not going there. Besides, I'm happy with how things are going with Virtus Entella.

Transfer

We can bring players into the club on free transfers now, and as long as they are younger than 21, they don't need to be registered and can play for us anytime. I found a young player who might come in handy.



Thomas Bongartz is a Köln trainee who was released in June and hadn't yet found a new team. Our scouts liked him, and I brought him in on a trial. He played well in a U19 match, and our coaches recommended I sign him. His versatility is a big plus, and he has the solid mental makeup that I like. Thomas needs to improve his marking, tackling, and especially his composure, but I think he has the makings of a good player. And, he's very affordable. He speaks only German, which means Sascha and I can converse with him for now.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

November 2014





Look how competitive Serie B is this season! We're in 14th, and we're closer to the top of the table (6 points) than we are to the relegation zone (7 points.) We're nearly through 17 rounds of the programme; no team have won ten matches and no team have lost ten. Wow.



This month, we alternated good games with bad ones. The good ones seem to feature outstanding performances from Gianluca Crotti, whose emergence has given me an intriguing "problem:" how to keep four strikers happy. Crotti, Tadej Jelen, Kabba Ssewankambo, and Juho Heikkinen have all played well when given the chance. And Emanuele Rota can lead the line, too. Angelo Quaranta, who played well for us last season, might not be Serie B quality, but he's still around too. Jelen was injured for three weeks, and we hardly missed a beat.



No, I don't have two players called Timothée Gaborit. Somehow our young goalkeeper persuaded the coaches to let him play striker for the reserves. The "real poacher" also assisted on the team's other goal in this match. I don't see Gab nosing his way into that bountiful collection of strikers I mentioned above, however.



I received the offer of an extension after the Verona match, and I was happy to accept it. I got a €100/week raise in the bargain.

I also found out more about the terms of Gianluca Moretti's sale to Padova. We are due €12,000 for each of the first 40 league appearances Gianluca makes, and 15% of the profit made on his next sale. We have a buyout fee of €290,000 on the first of these clauses, and a €78,420 buyout fee on the second one. I'm considering my options with these.

Plus, we're getting 25% of Marco Cozza's transfer fee if Udinese ever decide to sell him; I can buy that out for €94,320. Again, it's a tempting offer. Marco is currently valued at €600,000, and he's playing with Udinese's reserves at age 22.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I'm stepping out of the story for a moment because I just encountered something I've never seen in Football Manager...probably because this is my first experience managing in Italy.

Cagliari, who are mid-table in Serie A, just made me a co-ownership offer for my goalkeeper, Stefan Matt. They are offering €250,000 for a period of two years. The "playing team" is Virtus Entella.

If I'm understanding this correctly, if I accept the deal Cagliari will pay me €250K now, and Matt will continue playing for Virtus Entella for the next two seasons, not for Cagliari. Then, in two years, Virtus Entella and Cagliari wil each submit a bid for Matt, and the higher bid wins him outright.

Matt is under contract to Virtus Entella through the 2016/17 season (it's 2014/15) in my game now. He's valued at €240,000, and he's 24 years old.

Unless Virtus Entella receive a much bigger transfer budget in the years to come, there's no way we could match what Cagliari can pay for the other 50% of Matt's rights. Right now, I couldn't bid more than €50,000 for Matt's services, so Cagliari could sign him with ease.

On the other hand, if Matt wants to go to a bigger club (like Cagliari) and I don't sell him, he'll play out his contract and leave on a Bosman.

It's an interesting situation.

Am I understanding this correctly?

Thanks in advance.

GB

[tyler16]

I'm stepping out of the story for a moment because I just encountered something I've never seen in Football Manager...probably because this is my first experience managing in Italy.

Cagliari, who are mid-table in Serie A, just made me a co-ownership offer for my goalkeeper, Stefan Matt. They are offering €250,000 for a period of two years. The "playing team" is Virtus Entella.

If I'm understanding this correctly, if I accept the deal Cagliari will pay me €250K now, and Matt will continue playing for Virtus Entella for the next two seasons, not for Cagliari. Then, in two years, Virtus Entella and Cagliari wil each submit a bid for Matt, and the higher bid wins him outright.

Matt is under contract to Virtus Entella through the 2016/17 season (it's 2014/15) in my game now. He's valued at €240,000, and he's 24 years old.

Unless Virtus Entella receive a much bigger transfer budget in the years to come, there's no way we could match what Cagliari can pay for the other 50% of Matt's rights. Right now, I couldn't bid more than €50,000 for Matt's services, so Cagliari could sign him with ease.

On the other hand, if Matt wants to go to a bigger club (like Cagliari) and I don't sell him, he'll play out his contract and leave on a Bosman.

It's an interesting situation.

Am I understanding this correctly?

Thanks in advance.

GB

Co-ownership confuses the hell out of me personally, but maybe something in here could help you? http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/351092-What-is-the-point-of-co-ownership

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Co-ownership confuses the hell out of me personally, but maybe something in here could help you? http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/351092-What-is-the-point-of-co-ownership

Hi, Tyler--I read that thread right before I posted. It seems to make sense to me; when I looked at the offer from Cagliari, it was spelled out quite well.

Cagliari offered me more than his current value. It seems they are gambling that within two years, Matt will be worth considerably more than he is worth now, and that they couldn't persuade me to sell him to them for €250,000. It also seems Cagliari are gambling that Virtus Entella won't be able to make a very high bid for Matt's rights in a blind auction--which, unless our finances keep improving steadily, is a correct assumption on Cagliari's part.

It doesn't seem like a bad deal to me, because Matt gets to keep playing for Virtus Entella. I'm simply wondering if there's something I'm not seeing.

Thanks!

[deltablue]

Good work surviving so far

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Good work surviving so far

Thanks, deltablue. Our results have been all over the place, but we're hanging in there.

December 2014





The season is now exactly half over, and we're holding our place in the middle of the table. The division's top clubs asserted themselves a bit more during December. Only five points separate the top eight teams, so it looks like we're in for a very intriguing 2015.



Benevento scored twice in the first quarter hour, but we responded with four goals of our own before they pulled one back in stoppage time.

Then the injury bug began to bite us, and hard. Gianluca Crotti was the first to go down, injuring himself in a training session. Our talismanic midfielder, Luca Santarelli, got hurt in the first minutes of the Novara match and hasn't played since. Kabba Ssewankambo went down in the Trapani game, and he's still out, too. Alan Caputi is nursing a twisted knee, and Stefan Matt pulled his late in the Pescara game and will miss the next month.

That surplus of strikers has come in very handy this month.

Some of our younger players will need to step into the breach. Daniele Villani and Daniele Vertolomo have played well in the midfield, and Valentin Eisschiel will need to take over between the posts while Matt mends.

I'm delighted with the play of Adam Stewart, our English left winger. He is joint second in the league with 10 assists. Adam takes our corners, and only three teams have scored more goals from corners than we have. He's also demonstrated his ability to deliver crosses into the box with great regularity. Adam hasn't learned any Italian yet, but it's clear that he's fitting in just fine.

Not so with our young German midfielder, Thomas Bongartz. He became very homesick, and I've allowed him to go home for a while. Adjusting to a new culture isn't easy, and I hope Thomas will be able to overcome his case of the blues, return, and play some good football for us.

There is a break in the programme until 24 January, but as the transfer window is now open again, I expect to have a fairly busy month. Several of our players seem to be targets for other clubs. We'll see what happens.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

January 2015





When a league is as close as Serie B is this year, even a short run of form can make a difference. We played only twice in January, but took six points, and look where we are in the table!



These two clubs initiated us into Serie B last August in rude fashion, especially Modena. The Canarini trounced us, 5-2, in our first meeting. This time, on our grounds, we were much, much better defensively. When Stefan Matt had to make crucial saves, he was equal to the task.

We played even better at Varese, and ended our brief January programme with victories over two clubs in the top half of the table.

More good news: Thomas Bongartz returned to the club, rejuvenated by his trip back home to Germany. He came off the bench against Varese and played very well.

Transfers

First, the saga of Stefan Matt. In late December, Cagliari offered to buy half of Matt's rights from us for €250,000. I tried negotiating a higher price from them, just to see what they'd do, and they ended the negotiations. Three weeks later, Palermo offered us €300,000 under very similar terms; Stefan would play for us for two years before the auction for his rights. I accepted the deal, so we'll see what happens in 2017.

Our DoF, Francesco Oliveri, seems to like bringing in players on loan. During the January window, he lined up deals with five talented young players who will be with Virtus Entella through the end of the season.



Moriero was the first to join us, coming to us from Palermo. He'll step into the first team at center back, paired with Sascha Schöpf. Simone got a goal in his first match with us, tapping in an Adam Stewart corner.



With Stewart playing so well, we'll use Bianciardi as cover for him, as well as an emergency striker. He is a very technically sound footballer.



Improta is a product of Arsenal's youth program. He's a relentless tackler with incredible determination. We're going to lose Salvio Brunelli at the end of the season (he won't accept our contract offer, and he's already agreed to a contract with another club) , so I hope Improta and Arsenal will agree to renew our deal for 2015/16.



Cowie is a big Scottish lad from West Ham. His presence tempts me to experiment with a different formation, one that makes use of three strong center halves. At the very least, Russell will push for a spot in the first XI.

We couldn't match Cristian Riso's wage demands for next season, either, and he'll be joining Crotone on 1 July. Again, being able to renew Russell's loan would cushion that blow.



Juventus trainee Veladzic can fill a variety of roles in the middle of the park. He's won 12 youth caps for Slovenia, and he's only 17. My staff believe he'll be a star in Serie A one day.

I sold a young midfielder, Federico Raussi, to Padova for €250,000. Raussi was one of the better youngsters in our team, but the offer Padova made was simply too enticing to turn down. I hope Federico enjoys a long, successful career there.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

February 2015





February wasn't a good month for us, but we're still hanging in there, right in the middle of the table. The board is delighted with how we're doing.



Early in the month, it looked like the Biancazzurri had completed our transition to a stingy, defensive club. Stefan Matt was stellar at home to Vicenza, and the goal we conceded against Crotone was a master strike that was named the Serie B Goal of the Month.

Siena, who have been near the top of the table since late autumn, were a tough test, and once again our defense was superb. It had to be, as the visitors battered us relentlessly for 90 minutes, nearly without response from our attackers.

Then came the disaster, away to Avellino, who sat 20th in the table as the match began. We shipped five goals before the half. Heikkinen's brace made things look a little more respectable for a while, but they scored again to complete the rout. We were rubbish; there's no other way to put it.



It's been rumored the Feyenoord job will come open at the end of the season. It's flattering to be linked in the media to a big club, but I'm not ready to make that leap yet. After the month we had at Virtus Entella, I'd be surprised if the interest is more than speculation.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

March 2015





We're still safe from relegation, but we need to put things right quickly before the promise of the winter fades away. Verona has pulled away at the top of the table, and look like an excellent bet for promotion.



We were better against Parma than the scoreline indicates. They got one goal off a free kick against the run of play, and the other came when a corner ping-ponged around the six yard box until one of their players bundled it in.

Away to Spezia, we came out on the front foot and stayed there for the better part of an hour, but had only one goal to show for it. It took Adam Stewart eleven seconds to score; it was the quickest goal in Virtus Entella history. Spezia rallied and scored twice within five minutes, and it took a beautiful strike from Emanuele Rota to pull us back even.

We were poor against Lanciano. There's no other way to put it. We allowed six clear chances and six half chances, and we were lucky they only scored twice.

I'm glad to put March behind us and move on.

The best news of the month came from the international front. Kabba Ssewankambo hit a brace in Gambia's 6-0 victory over South Sudan. Stefan Matt took his senior bow for Liechtenstein, and David Veladzic did the same for Slovenia.



Youth Intake



Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Right back Vincenzo Corsi looks like the best of the lot. He isn't fast, but he works hard, keeps his head in the game, and is eager in the tackle. With experience, he'll hopefully learn to anticipate game situations better.

Juri Cafasso is a big, tough center half. His positioning and decision-making are excellent, and he needs those skills to compensate for his frightful lack of pace.

Senegalese immigrant Papa Diallo is a flashy wide man, and we have a Moroccan midfielder, Samir Rafik.

The kids took a 5-0 pasting from our Under 19s, but to be fair, I had Daniele Villani and Thomas Bongartz turn out against them. Both Daniele and Thomas needed some additional match fitness.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

April 2015





With four matches to play, we've secured our place in Serie B for 2015/16. L'Aquila (30 pts) and Avellino (31 pts) are at the bottom of the 22-team league. Right now, three teams would be relegated: those two clubs, plus Benevento However, Brescia, Trapani, and even Vicenza are in some danger.

At the other end of the table, Verona look like they're made of the right stuff. There should be quite a battle for second, and it looks like as many as six other teams could be involved in a promotion playoff. We have an outside shot at earning a place there, but I'm certainly not expecting it to happen.



A very busy April programme tested the depth of our side. We began the month extremely well, with a rousing victory over Brescia at the Comunale. Our morale high again, we kept the good times rolling at home against L'Aquila. Not only did we hit for four, Stefan Matt made a number of splendid stops to keep his sheet clean.

Next, we were away to Latina, and we won a match we probably didn't deserve to win. I guess this result equalled out some bad luck we suffered earlier. Both our goals came from set pieces, including a wonder goal by Luca Santarelli.



Luca deserved the honor. His free kick was a laser shot to the upper right corner.

As I was reading the scouting report for Reggina, I noticed they eat teams who play 4-4-2 alive. I dusted off our second tactic--a 4-1-2-2-1 with a defensive midfielder--and we used it to eke out a goalless draw against one of the league's toughest sides.

Juho Heikkinen's late strike salvaged a draw at Livorno, but we learned after the match that Adam Stewart will be sidelined for a while with a groin strain. He's been nearly ever-present for us this year, and we'll miss him. Young loan player Giuseppe Bianciardi will fill in for him.

All month long, I've been fielding co-ownership offers for Daniele Villani. Finally, I've received one I'm considering: a €250,000 offer from Palermo. I have to let them know by next week, and I'm leaning toward saying "yes." Daniele is certainly a good young player, but I don't think he'd be impossible to replace were we to lose him. He's been the third man in our two-man central midfield setup all season.

[ManUtd1]

Great job, GfB. How are you feeling, in terms of positioning for another promotion push? You're not far off in the table.